¹³ So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. ^(A)And he went out and came in before the people.

² In times past, when Saul was king over us, ^(A)it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ^(B)‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince^[a] over Israel.’”

⁷ And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse ^(A)give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,

²⁵ Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no ^(A)bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, ^(B)that he may be avenged of the king's enemies.’” ^(C)Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

^16 (A)But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is ^(B)my elder daughter Merab. ^(C)I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me ^(D)and fight the Lord's battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, ^(E)but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(A)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

¹⁶ “Let the Lord, ^(A)the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation ¹⁷ who ^(B)shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^(C)as sheep that have no shepherd.”